The Cardboard was Corrugated
by flower-girl-12345
Summary: Yeah, its the sequel to Life is a Series of Boxes. It's charming so please please read! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST STORY ITS OK! YOU MIGHT BE A BIT CONFUSED FOR A SECOND, BUT THE PREVIOUS 200 PAGES ARE NOT REQUIRED FOR YOU TO READ THIS ONE. Super!


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Also, this story is rated M for a reason, so if graphic sexyness, language, or whatever is going to upset you and you read this, do not complain to me, thanks!

Chapter One

It had been four years since the fatal night when Genis had committed suicide. Raine had gone through a serious depression afterwards and rejected the idea of children even more. She and Zelos remained in their house in Melotokio. Colette and Lloyd had managed to remain with three kids and were now living in their house next door to Raine and Zelos. Sheena and Starr were living in Mizuho though they still weren't married and fought frequently. Presea and Regal had been married for two years now though they had no children. Kratos finally got Martel to get help for her problems three years ago, she hated it though and so it hadn't done much for her so far. They were living between both their houses in Derris Kharlan and had not been married yet nor did they have any children.

"You ignorant bastard!" Sheena yelled as she stormed into the house drunkenly.

"What the hell was I supposed to do Sheena?! He was going to fucking take advantage of you!" Starr yelled back.

"No he wasn't!" She argued.

"Sheena! You're fucking drunk as hell! What the hell are you thinking?!"

"I am not drunk!" She screamed, but by the way she was moving he could tell she was drunk.

"Yes you are dammit!" He was about to keep yelling when he sighed,

"Sheena, why don't you just go lie down? You're drunk and there's no use in arguing."

She didn't respond as she stumbled into their bedroom and lie down on the bed.

Starr walked down the hall into the bedroom and sat down next to her, he sighed and looked at her.

"Starr?" Her voice was soft now that she had calmed down.

"Yes?"

"Are you mad at me?" She asked innocently.

"No, I'm not. I just…I wish you'd stop doing things like this, you're going to get yourself in a hell of a lot of trouble and fast."

"No I won't…"

Starr sighed, he didn't know what she was thinking at this point. This was the fifth time in the past three months she'd gone out and gotten completely shit-faced drunk. He wouldn't have minded as much if she had done it at home but out in the bars anything could happen. She was lucky he'd gotten to her fast enough this time, she was two more beers away from getting taken advantage of.

"Sheena…why don't you just get some sleep, you're too drunk to know what you're doing or saying." Starr sighed.

"I told you I'm not drunk." She stated as she sat up to look him in the eye, her breath smelled like beer.

"Sheena…"

"You bastard…" She raised her hand to slap him but he caught it in his and looked into her eyes.

"Sheena, please, just get some rest."

She was about to start yelling again when she passed out. Starr sighed and looked at her, he knew tomorrow she'd be in a shitty mood and she wouldn't want to talk about it. He had to know though, he had to know why she was doing this, it wasn't like her.

Kratos got off the couch at eight in the evening and headed over to Martel's house, he knew she was upset but he had to talk to her. She'd just had a shouting match with him a few days previous over her emotional status. She hadn't wanted to go see a shrink in the first place and since she refused to open up and deal with everything she had made very little progress. She would come home to him and cry her eyes out from all the pain but he was the only one she would open up to. He'd tried everything he could to get her to accept someone else's help, he wasn't a professional and he couldn't do anything for her in the long run. He had suggested the last thing he could think of for her, she could go on anti depressants. He knew she hated the idea from the start but at this point it was the only thing left, he knew it wouldn't be enough to solve her problems but he knew it would be enough to get her to open up more.

Kratos knocked on her front door a few times and waited, knowing she wouldn't want to let him in.

"Who is it?" She asked, she sounded pissed.

"It's me Martel, we need to talk." He sighed.

"There's nothing to talk about Kratos, if you think…" She was about to go on when he cut her off.

"Martel, why don't you let me in so we can talk all this over?"

"Fine." She opened the door and then made her way back to her room, she was over tired and she wanted to lie down.

Kratos followed her and sat next to her on the bed and looked down at her.

"Martel, I know you hate the idea but you've been in therapy for three years now and made no progress. If you'd open up to someone besides me you'd start doing a lot better."

"Going on anti depressants isn't going to help me." She said coldly.

"Martel, why are you opposed to them?"

"Because I don't need them."

"What are you talking about Martel? You've been raped, abused, and who knows what else… if anyone needs them it's you."

"Don't tell me what I need, I can take care of myself."

"As much as I'd like to agree with you I can't. You know you're not well Martel, you've been through a lot and most of it you should have never had to deal with. You can't take care of yourself Martel, not emotionally. You're a mess Martel, you come home to me every night and cry your heart out…you wake up screaming nearly every night now to your bad memories, you can't even go near your old house without breaking down completely, seeing children reminds you of the ones you almost had, people with blue hair make you think of Yuan…Martel, please don't make this harder for yourself." Kratos sighed, it was so hard to watch her suffer like this anymore.

Martel slowly felt tears come to her eyes and soon she was crying into his shoulder. She knew he was right but the idea of needing a therapist and all kinds of extensive psychiatric care scared her so much.

Kratos held her in his arms for another hour until she stopped crying for the most part and then kissed her lightly. He looked into her eyes, searching for an answer of some sort.

"Kratos…."

"Yes Martel?"

"I…I'll take them…if it will help this go away…I'll do it…"

"They can't make it all go away Martel, nothing can. You'll always have those memories, it's learning how to cope with what's happened that matters."

Martel nodded in compliance and he smiled. He was happy she'd finally agreed to take them, all he could do now was hope that they were enough to help her.

Presea was lying in bed reading when Regal came in the room, she smiled at him and set the book down. She'd grow much more social over the past year or so and was happy to be married. He lie down next to her and kissed her lightly, she kissed him back.

"Regal?"

"Yes Presea?"

"Um…we kind of…need to talk…" Her voice was soft and nervous as she spoke.

"About what?"

"Um…well…you see…"

"Yes?"

"Never mind…we can talk about it later." She decided.

"Ok…if you say so." He said confused.

He fell asleep an hour later but Presea couldn't sleep, her mind was swimming with how to tell him.

Zelos sighed and wondered how he would tell Raine he was leaving, he made his way to their room where she was already waiting for him. She was just wearing a bra and panties and was obviously in the mood.

Zelos knew it was a bad time to tell her but he had no choice, he sat down with her and she started to crawl onto him with a grin on her face.

"Raine…we need to talk…"

"Later…" She told him as she started to kiss his neck.

"No, I mean we need to talk _now_." He told her as he nudged her away a litte.

"What is it?" She asked annoyed.

"I'm going away for two weeks."

"What?!"

"I know it's kind of a long time but I have to go…"

"Why?!"

"Business, I've been putting off going on a business trip for years but now I really have to go. There's a huge meeting and I kind of need to be there."

"Can't you just go for a day or two?"

"No…I really can't…I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, I'll just come with you."

"You can't…"

"And why not?"

"Raine…I'm going to be in meetings from six am to around ten at night and then I've got paperwork and all kinds of shit to do…you don't want to be there. You'll be bored and I won't be able to see you with everything I'll have to do…I don't like it either but I've got no choice."

"But…what about…well…you know…?" She whined, she hated to act like this but she hated the idea of him being gone for two weeks.

"I know hunny, trust me, I'm not happy about this either. I'll find a way to make it up to you, ok?"

"You promise?"

"Promise." He agreed.

"Good. Now…lets get you out of those clothes…" She let a devilish grin spread across her face as she started to take off his clothes.

"Come on girls! You need to go to bed, it's getting late." Lloyd called out to his three daughters who were out on the lawn playing.

"Do we have to?" They all whined in unison.

"Yes, now get inside." He said tiredly, he'd been working nights and wasn't used to the adjustment to working in the day.

Candace was the first to come through the door and without being asked went to go brush her teeth and get ready for bed. Violet came in after her but then started fighting with Priscilla when she got inside.

"Violet leave your sister alone and go brush your teeth, you too Priscilla." He told them and to his surprise they did as they were told.

Soon Colette had gotten them all into bed and was back in the living room where Lloyd was sitting on the couch.

"They're already in bed?" He asked.

"Yeah, they must be tired or something." She said as she sat down with him and yawned.

"Thank god they are, I'm so tired with my shifts getting switched."

Colette smiled and leaned in and kissed him, she felt his arms come around her and she was putting hers around him when they were interrupted.

"Mommy!" Priscilla's voice could be heard as she came towards them. They broke apart right away before she saw them and looked at her.

"What is it?" Colette asked as she got up.

"Violet said there was a monster under my bed!"

Lloyd sighed and got up,

"Come on Priscilla, I'll show you there's nothing there." He led his daughter down to her room.

"You watch Priscilla, there's nothing here." He said as he lifted up her bed and smiled when he was right, there was nothing there at all.

"But she said…" Priscilla whined.

"There's no such think as monsters sweetie, now get some sleep." He told her though he knew it was a lie.

Priscilla was about to protest when she saw the glare in her father's eyes and she did as she was told. Lloyd looked over at Violet and saw the contentment in her eyes as she grinned at her frightened sister.

Lloyd walked back out to Colette who was sitting on the couch again.

"Why does Violet keep telling her that?" Colette asked.

"I don't know…she's always trying to upset Priscilla…" Lloyd sighed as he sat down with her.

"They're just kids, I'm sure it'll pass." Colette assured herself.

Lloyd nodded and kissed her again, and this time with no interruptions. A few minutes later Colette got up and yawned,

"I'm going to bed, see you in the morning."

Lloyd went to bed as well shortly after her, too tired to stay awake any longer.

The next morning when Martel woke up she saw that Kratos was still sleeping soundly beside her and when she looked over at the clock she saw the reason he wasn't up was because it was three am. She sighed and wondered how long it would be until she was able to get a full nights sleep. She was thankful she didn't wake up from another awful nightmare, she'd been getting them constantly. She shifted a little and accidentally bumped up against Kratos who woke up almost instantly, assuming she'd just had another nightmare.

"Martel?" His voice was soft as it sought her in the dark.

"I'm fine, you can go back to sleep." She told him.

"So it wasn't a nightmare that woke you up?"

"No, I'm not sure why I'm up."

He nodded and fell back asleep, she wished she could do the same. She got up and put on a bra, panties, and a silk slip. She made her way out of the house in the dark and out onto the street. She wandered down the empty streets of the city, no one was around and it was silent. Her bare feet grew cold from the pavement but she didn't care as she wandered about.

Martel wondered where she was going but she knew she'd never find the answer. She'd done this once or twice before when she woke up like this. She could never fall back asleep, it was like she was anticipating another nightmare. It calmed her nerves to go out for a walk and she had nothing better to do since she couldn't sleep now. She was about to head down another street when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She jumped and turned to see who it was, she was relieved to find it was only Kratos.

"You scared me." She told him, her heart had been racing for a moment.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night? You'll get yourself mugged out here at night especially seeing that you're barely even clothed." He warned her.

"I've done it before and I am clothed. I'm even wearing something under this." She protested.

"Why are you out here anyways?"

"It calms my nerves."

"When did they need calming?"

"I woke up because I was going to have a nightmare and the anticipation always messes with my head."

"But you can't have it if you're not asleep." He said as he walked alongside her, her hand in his.

"Yes I can."

"How does that work?"

"Everything just kind of goes black and it all floods my mind…but it's like I can't wake up or something since I've passed out…it's the weirdest feeling but it's awful so to avoid it I go out for walks to keep it from happening since walking around like this helps me calm down." She explained.

"So you're saying that since you're not asleep you pass out and experience the nightmare?"

"I guess so."

"So the anticipation of the nightmare keeps you awake but you then pass out and experience the nightmare and can't snap out of it nearly as easily because you're passed out instead of being asleep?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

"That can't be normal." He said concernedly.

"It's not but none of my psychiatric behaviors are so it's not that strange…"

"I suppose that makes sense but still…that seems really abnormal. I'll look into it later."

"You don't have to do all this you know."

"Do all what?" He asked.

"You're always helping me and everything, you don't have to do all this for me."

"Yes I do Martel, I love you and I can't bear to see you suffer like this." He told her somberly.

Martel stopped walking and looked up into his eyes and found all the reasons she'd fallen in love with him there. She locked her lips to his for a moment and then headed home, hoping to get some sleep and not get a nightmare. And so they walked home hand in hand, quite the odd couple Kratos thought to himself.

Sheena crawled out of bed around three in the afternoon, her head was pounding with a headache as she lumbered her way to the kitchen. She took a few pills and was on her way back to bed when Starr got in her way.

"Sheena, we need to talk." He told her sternly.

"Can't we do this later? I've got a splitting headache, we can talk once I sleep it off." She told him as she went back to bed.

Starr decided to let her go, he knew it'd be easier if she wasn't bitching about her headache.

Zelos had just finished packing and Raine still wasn't up, he set his things out for Sebastian to put in the car. He walked up to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked her face gently.

"Zelos?" Her voice was tired as she stated to wake up.

"Yeah…" He hated to leave her but he had to do it.

"Are you leaving?" She asked.

He nodded.

She sat up and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply for minutes until he had to leave. He got up and hugged her once more,

"I left something for you on the kitchen table, I think you'll like it." He told her with a grin.

Raine thanked him and sadly bid him goodbye. She decided to go see what he'd left her, she wandered downstairs to the kitchen and saw a box sitting on the table. She opened it and retrieved its contents, she grinned when she saw it, he'd given her a vibrator.

Starr went into the bedroom at eight, he was happy to see that Sheena was starting to wake up.

"You ready to talk to me now?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Why did you go out and get drunk last night Sheena?"

"Because I felt like it." She lied.

"Sheena, I know you're lying." He told her then sighed.

Sheena rolled her eyes,

"I just…I don't know…I feel like life is so useless and I'm so bored with it all." She told him.

"So you thought that by drinking you wouldn't be bored?"

"I guess."

"Sheena, you know better than to make choices like that, am I not enough for you anymore?" He asked confused.

"No…it's not like that…it's just-I just feel like life is so dull and that there's nothing new that's going to happen…that its just my existence going on and on until I die."

"Well…we could make it more than that if you want…" He suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Sheena, let's get married." He told her as he got down on his knee and slid a ring onto her left ring finger.

"Oh Starr…do you really mean it?" She asked shyly as she admired the amethyst ring on her finger.

"Of course I do…I love you and I always have…" His voice was soft in her ear now as he wrapped his arms around her.

She kissed him deeply and that was all either of them needed.

Kratos lay in bed looking out at the moon and he wondered if Martel was looking at it too. He hadn't seen her in days now and he knew it was for the best they spent some time away from one another. He hadn't been sure why she'd needed the time but he knew better than to fight her whims. He just lie there thinking, wondering when she'd come back, wondering if she was coming back.

He found himself thinking of her and whether or not he should go after her. He'd asked himself this many a time over the past few nights and not found an answer. He knew that he needed time from her too, he had built to much of his life around her. He cursed himself when he found himself up and dressed. He decided this time not to fight it and he left the house and went out into the city. He wandered the streets, wondering where she'd gotten off too. He knew she wasn't home, he'd checked before and she wasn't there. He sighed knowing he wouldn't find her, he'd only find her when she was ready to be found. He went home again and went to bed though he didn't sleep. He stay awake wondering when he'd see her again.

Yeah guys! So first chappie is done. And don't worry, this one is going to be as long the first one. . Please please please R&R! It only takes about two seconds, please R&R! If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to R&R anything of yours in return for a nice review from you. I know how much it sucks to review and then not get a review. . Toodles!

--Indigo Anna


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